after the sale

My first plant sale yesterday was a lot of fun! Although I didn't get rid of all of the plants, I did find new homes for a large number of them.

I suspect I'll plant as many of the remainders as possible to get them off the driveway, as I'm just tired of caring for them in the heat -- which hasn't been too bad recently.

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The best part of the sale was the people though -- talking about plants, letting them walk around the garden, finding out what they liked to grow. Lots of questions about bamboo and overwintering.

Had a couple of odd conversations ("do you have any cactus?" I point out an Opuntia and a cholla. "no, I'm looking for one with more leaves"), it was great seeing people get excited about plants!

A few people were really excited, coming back a couple of times -- one woman's enthusiasm spilled over to her two teenage sons on the phone, who were already digging planting holes in anticipation. She eventually went home to pick them up to give them a tour of my yard -- that's extremely gratifying!

She brought me back some sedum to share, and somebody else who came back again brought me some hyacinth bean seeds -- both of these plants I already had, but I love the enthusiasm and generosity of gardeners, don't you?


I can't believe that nobody bought a Canna 'Paton':

But I can understand why the Ruellia wasn't a hit, as it hasn't started blooming yet:

Papyrus was really popular -- as it should be -- but I still have a few left:

Maybe I'll make up another big pot of it...

I can't believe that nobody wanted a maypop:

There were flowers open too -- how do these people resist plants like this? Maybe because it's a vine -- you need something for it to climb, which means a bit more work.

I am so very happy that at least 75% of my Colocasia esculenta found new homes:

This is an "exponential overwinterer" -- each plant gives me three or more new plants next year. I was really worried that I'd have 500 lbs of these things to find space for in the garage this winter.

People were more attracted to size than special colors -- the straight species (which were bigger plants right now) were much more popular than the smaller (for now) red, black, and striped-stem varieties I have. Who can pass up a tiger-striped Colocasia for only $1?



Finally...

...if you recognize these little guys, please let me know. I don't know exactly which youngster dropped these, but if you want to come by and pick them up and spend a little more time talking with me in the garden -- things were a bit crazy at times yesterday -- that would be great!

If not, I may just have to find a spoon and some cactus seed...

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